Drawing: Marion Cotillard

Posted on March 10, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

If your father’s an actor, playwright and director; your mother an actress and drama teacher, the chances of their daughter following suit are high. Predictably Marion Cotillard stuck to the script, reaching the dizzy heights of a Best Actress Oscar for her role as Edith Piaf in La Vie En Rose (2007). She also collected a BAFTA, a French César and a Golden Globe for good measure. Director Olivier Dahan cast Marion because “her eyes were the same as Piaf.” The fact that she could sing also helped.

She also plays guitar, keyboard, tambourine and cello… and sings under the pseudonym Simone in Maxim Nucci’s band Vodelice. Apart from the glittering prizes for her Piaf performance, Marion said her hat collection increased dramatically. The number of handbags may have also multiplied, becoming the face of Lady Dior after her increase notoriety.

Marion is taking a break from her Greenpeace activism to film Macbeth with Michael Fassbender, playing the scheming Lady Macbeth with a distinctive French accent. The production moves into the impressive Ely Cathedral in Cambridge next week.

The above sketch, which Marion kindly signed, is not a good example of accurate observation. I never noticed the trademark mole in the middle of her forehead! …but I did manage to render her distinctive eyes.

Drawing: Rose Byrne

Posted on March 7, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Australian actress Rose Byrne played the leading role in The Goddess of 1967 which won her the Best Actress award at the 2000 Venice Film Festival. She is probably best known for her role as Ellen Parsons alongside Glenn Close in the television series Damages (2007-2012) which earned her two Golden Globe and two Emmy nominations. She also starred in Insidious, X-Men: First Class and Bridesmaids.

Rose signed my sketch on a chilly, wintery evening on the red carpet for the I Give It A Year premiere at the Vue Cinema in Leicester Square on 24 January 2013.

Drawing: John Travolta

Posted on February 23, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

While the whole film industry congregated next door for the BAFTAs at the Royal Opera House last Sunday afternoon, the dreaded and drying metallic silver marker pen made an unwelcome appearance at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane.

A handful of expectant ‘graphers gathered by one of a dozen possible doors in anticipation of catching ‘Danny Zuko’s’ early arrival for ‘A Conversation with John Travolta’.

A large black Land Rover pulled up, signalling the designated entry point, and like Greased Lightening we quickly slipped into position. Chills weren’t the only thing multiplying as numbers suddenly swelled and it was the quills multiplying…. well, not exactly, but a quill would have been a lot better than the dreaded drying metallic silver marker that belonged to the first person who greeted John with a ‘graph request. He was more than happy to sign as many as possible, but with the wretched rendering instrument, not the one that I want! Ew, ew, ew!

Always remember when ‘graphing, be first in line, or make sure that if you can’t be first, give em a black sharpie!

Drawing: George Clooney

Posted on February 12, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

I first met George Clooney on the Warner Bros lot sometime in the mid 1990s, I was heading to the set of ER… and so was he, on a bicycle. He reminded me of Paul Newman in the famous scene from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, although George took a more direct route without Katherine Ross on his handlebars and being chased by an angry bull.

Since then I have met George over numerous occasions at various events on the natural cycle of life and he has always been the same – charming, funny, friendly and accommodating. I recall interviewing him at ShoWest in Las Vegas while he was promoting Three Kings. I was the last in a lengthy line up. He was due on stage and the organisers were urging him to move… but he stayed and chatted. “I’d love to work in New Zealand,” he said. “I’ll play the drunk in the corner.”

Our paths briefly crossed again at the UK premiere of his latest film The Monument Men at the Odeon in Leicester Square last night, in which he does everything – act, direct, produce, write.

He was in good form – not just charming, friendly and accommodating, but quick too as he rapidly ‘did the entire line’. He saw my sketch and said, “oh, nice!” and signed his distinctive ‘GCy’ moniker.

Drawing: Abbie Cornish

Posted on February 10, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Thirty one year old Australian actress Abbie Cornish was in London this week for the World Premiere of the RoboCop remake.

In 2009 she starred opposite Ben Whishaw in Jane Campion’s Bright Star. Abbie played Frances (Fanny) Brawne who was betrothed to the English poet John Keats from 1818 until his death in 1821, a time in which he spawned some of his most productive work.

I sent Abbie this sketch in July 2009 and she signed and returned it a year later.

Drawing: Samantha Bond

Posted on February 9, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Aptly named, Samantha Bond featured in four 007 films as Miss Moneypenny during the Pierce Brosnan era between 1995 and 2002. The popular British actress has been a regular on the West End boards over the past five years. In an interview for WhatsOnStage, Samantha said, “I try and do a play a year. It’s my favourite place, nothing compares to live theatre… where I feel most at home, but it does scare the shit out of me.”

Following the revival of Tom Stoppard’s classic comedy of ideas Arcadia at the Duke of York’s in 2009, she did two shifts at the Vaudeville Theatre, with Oscar Wilde’s The Ideal Husband (with her husband Alexander Hanson) and What the Butler Saw before returning to the Duke of York’s for Passion Play in May 2013.

Her next appearance will be the comedy musical Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at the Savoy next month. So, plenty of opportunities to get Samantha to sign a sketch…. In this case she ‘graphed it at the Vaudeville during What The Butler Saw in July 2012.

Drawing: Ken Stott in A View From The Bridge at Duke of York’s Theatre

Posted on February 7, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Ken Stott, the Scot, better known to cinema goers as the dwarf Balin in the current Hobbit trilogy, is an accomplished theatre thespian. His most recent West End appearance was the lead in Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya. Theatre critic Tim Walker, writing in The Telegraph said, “Good for Lindsay Posner, the director of this pitch perfect production for not choosing a big star name to play the title role but a proper, solid stage actor in Ken Stott”.

I sketched Ken as the tragic protagonist Eddie when he starred in the revival of Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge at the Duke of York’s in early 2009. He played an Italian-American longshoreman on the New York docks. The production drew media attention when Ken halted a performance to demand a group of rowdy school children be removed from the audience, who supported him by shouting, “out, out, out.” After a 15 minute stand-off the offending juveniles were removed…

Drawing: Greta Scacchi

Posted on February 4, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Italian-born Australian actress, Greta Scacchi is fluent in English, French, Italian and German which has been the foundation for a versatile career on both screen and stage. She won an Emmy in 1996 for her portrayal of the Russian Princess Alexandra in RASPUTIN: DARK SERVANT OF DESTINY. In May 2011 Greta appeared with Anita Dobson in the play BETTE AND JOAN at the Arts Theatre in London. She signed this sketch on Opening Night.

Drawing: Felicity Jones

Posted on February 3, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

English actress Felicity Jones’ latest role is the heroine in THE INVISIBLE WOMAN, the biopic of Charles Dickens. Directed by Ralph Fiennes,who also plays the renowned English writer, the film follows his relationship with 18 year old actress Nelly Ternan, while still married with nine children. Felicity’s acting career is far from invisible, dividing her time equally between stage and screen with equal aplomb. Her last performance on the boards was in Mike Poulton’s new version of Friedrich Schiller’s LUISE MILLER at the Donmar, which critics referred to as ‘the Felicity Jones phenomenon.’ After delivering the final ‘unbearable’ moments, she was still able to sign my sketch as she left the theatre in July 2011.

Drawing: Keira Knightley in Anna Karenina

Posted on January 30, 2014 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Joe Wright’s bold and innovative “re-imagining of the Russian classic Anna Karenina shot on a single sound stage in a dilapidated theatre starred Keira Knightley in the title role.

The film was adapted by Tom Stoppard from Leo Tolstoy’s 1877 novel depicting the tragedy of Russian aristocrat Anna Karenina, wife of senior statesman Alexei Karenin who has an affair with the affluent officer Count Vronksy. (Aaron Taylor-Johnson).

It garnered four Academy Award and six BAFTA nominations, winning both Best Costume Design prizes.

I just missed getting Keira to sign my sketch of her as the Russian socialite at the film’s world premiere at the Odeon in Leicester Square in September 2012, but eventually got her ‘graph, and might I say, a good ‘graph (usually it’s a quick K) and a dedication at the European premiere of Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit a couple of weeks ago.